Learning Hub | Digital Marketing Basics

Marketing Master: The Facebook Essentials

October 21, 2016 | Jon Teodoro

What if I told you that your business content has the potential to reach 1.71 billion people monthly?

You would probably roll your eyes at me like a quack on the street trying to sell you a miracle pill that will make that beer gut disappear instantly (while making you look and feel 10 years younger of course!)

Well, you’d be right. You probably won’t reach all 1.71 active monthly Facebook users. However, with a strategic social media marketing campaign, even reaching a tiny fraction of this massive audience would be greatly beneficial to your company.

For the purpose of this blog, we want to focus on the overall style, organization and impact of your Facebook marketing. For a more detailed description of the actual how-to process of using Facebook ads, check out Facebook Business.

Here are some key things to keep in mind when embarking on the “Great Book of Faces Marketing Journey!”

Do:

1. Do post inspirational quotes with meaningless selfies daily.

KIDDING!

Any of us that are on Facebook have seen social blunders, corporate rants and celeb no-no’s. The instantaneous world of social media can be a great place to get your message out, but with the click of a button, you can also easily offend someone or destroy your reputation in about .2 seconds flat.

Don’t be concerned. We only point this out so that you keep in mind a couple of things:

• Think twice before you post.
• Remember that body language and vocal inflection are lacking on a black-and-white screen. This is a big chunk of your intent gone – so make sure that what you mean is coming off accurately in text format.
• Once you post, it’s there. Even if you delete it, it will have only taken someone about 3 seconds to screenshot your oopsie and send it to the world.

These warnings deal more with the PR side of things, and we don’t think you’ll run into too much trouble when posting ads, sales, reviews, articles, etc. But, just keep this stuff in mind – especially if new to social networking. Some of the world’s biggest media moguls screwed up once online and have never been looked at the same way again.

Best Practices for a Successful Facebook Marketing Image:

1. Do look at your whole profile as one cohesive branding tool.

From your background banner to your verbiage, link content, photos and profile info, every little piece that makes up your Facebook profile is part of your brand. Not only is it a part of it, but it needs to add to your company’s image, creating one solid identity.

Profiles can be an extension of your website, utilizing similar photos, wording and personality. A Facebook profile is just like a business card or flyer you give to someone. It’s simply one arm of your marketing strategy. If a profile is successfully constructed, it will be instantly recognizable to your viewers that it comes from your company.

2. Do consider using an immediately-recognizable logo or image for your profile photo.

Your profile picture is one of the few things that tags along on all of your Facebook activity. Many items are only visible after someone goes to your page, but your picture will be a thumbnail by your name everywhere – on comments, likes, shares and recommendations.

Say, for example, that Facebook decides someone may be interested in liking your page because of their other interests and friends list. If your company name pops up as a suggestion (unless they are intimately loyal to you already), it may help persuade them to follow you if they immediately recognize your logo or face. You don’t want people to have to think too hard about who you are.

3. Do use CTAs.

Calls. To. Action. Use them.

Like with any form of marketing, CTAs need to be concise and to the point while also being persuasive. They need to utilize an action verb so that people know exactly where the button will take them. Look at this example from Target’s Facebook:

See how Target’s profile picture is their unmistakable logo, it matches their cover photo in branding and style, and they have “Shop Now” as their profile CTA? What do you think will happen when you click on that link?

Sure, Target is a super popular and well-established brand, but you can use these same marketing principles on a smaller level and reap the benefits – even if you’re a mom-and-pop sandwich shop!

4. Do send posts to correct audience demographics.

You can use tools on Facebook to target your ads and make sure that the right ones are getting to the right audience members at the right times. You can segment who sees what based on things like gender, age, activity and interests just to name a few.

You may think every single person needs to see every single ad, but this is not the case. The truth is, people get tired of advertisements. No matter how cute, clever or creative, eventually your annoying ad will become background noise. They won’t see it anymore. By targeting to a the smaller portion of your audience that is more likely to relate to the ad and click-through to your site, you will generate leads and increase conversion rates, profiting in the end.

You can even design multiple ads, each one specifically created for a specific demographic. Or, send out different articles to your different consumers. To know who will likely interact with what, you need to spend some time building up your buyer personas.

5. Do keep in mind peak usage times for optimal post views.

You can find just about any Facebook statistic you would ever want to know, including the peak activity times. By aligning your posts with these optimal timeframes, you are guaranteed to get more eyes on your content, which should lead to more interaction simply from volume alone.

There are differing reports on what is the best time to post on Facebook. We follow Hootsuite’s advice and go with Saturdays between noon and 1 p.m.

Do a little research, and try it out! You can always run analysis on your posts and see which are attracting the most interaction. A lot of this has to do with trial and error, but that doesn’t mean guessing. Put some structure behind your tests, track interactions, analyze them and then make adjustments accordingly.

6. Do track and analyze your Facebook marketing progress.

Like we just mentioned, don’t make changes to your marketing campaign based on guesses or assumptions. Instead:

• Notice what works and what doesn’t.
• Be mindful of why you believe something is or is not working (analysis).
• Try out different ways of doing one thing, measure and compare them.
• Don’t go solely off of what a similar company is doing on its Facebook page. Sure, take some inspiration, but something totally different could work for your specific audience.
• Rely on facts and stats, not guts and hunches when it comes to tracking your Facebook campaign progress. (Instead, use that gut feeling when it comes to putting some creativity into your content!)

Just Don’t:

1. Don’t neglect informational sections of your page.

Your profile’s About page is an important section for your consumers, especially if you are a small business. People that aren’t very familiar with your company or what you do can go to your about page and learn more about you. This is essentially as important as the About Us page on your website.

You want to make it as easy as possible for people to find information about your company and what it can offer them. Make sure that your about page provides accurate, relevant information because this is one of the first places someone is going to browse when they hit your profile page. If you have contact info, make sure it is updated.

2. Don’t blow up your friends’ feeds.

Posting too sporadically is a no-no, but so is posting too much. You don’t want to bombard your followers with ads and posts. Like we mentioned above, your posts will end up becoming camouflage if your audience members are frustrated by them. Worse, they may unfollow you so that they don’t have to see them at all.

This is yet another area of marketing where quality is preferred over quantity. Quality ads will grab your followers’ attention and lead them to action even if you only post a few times a month. Spend more time creating great, targeted ads instead of constantly posting.

3. Don’t forget about visually stimulating your audience.

Posts are great, but if they include videos or animation of some kind, they may be more attention-grabbing. A lot of people get on Facebook when they are bored and end up just scrolling endlessly, not really focusing on one thing or another. In this case, even the best ad can be lost.

Think about including a cool HD video or animation to your post to pull users back into the page and command their attention. The change in scenery will register with their eyes and, who knows, maybe they’ll be so bored that they’ll click on your ad and buy those cute shoes just because.

You’ve heard of buyer’s remorse haven’t you!?

4. Don’t ignore comments, likes, shares, etc. from your audience members.

When you followers interact with your page, interact back. This doesn’t meant that you have to constantly monitor your comments and shares, but be mindful of your users’ experience. If they know that someone from your company is checking the page and cares about their involvement, they are more likely to become loyal customers of your company.

Sharing a users’ story, thanking them publicly for a business interaction or sending them a private, personal message (not a sales pitch!) won’t only make them feel special, but it will look good to all of your other followers, as well. Several corporations have used social media to build loyal customers and promote their customer service simultaneously.

Don’t shirk away from negative comments either. Be sure to address the issue and offer some sort of solution to encourage them to give your business another chance. But remember, sometimes people are just going to be jerks….you can’t help that.

5. Don’t blend into their news feed.

We’ve touched on this, but we can’t suggest it enough. Facebook isn’t new anymore. People are used to it, and there is a lot of mindless activity. Make sure that you are using resources to make your posts stand out in creativity and quality. Be genuine. Treat your Facebook interactions the same way you would treat someone that waked into your store. Hiding behind a screen is only advantageous to Internet troll and bullies.

Be informative. Be consistent. Be responsive. Be transparent.

6. Don’t forget that your Facebook is an extension of your company as a whole. They ARE NOT separate entities.

If you have a Facebook, don’t just let it sit there. You don’t have to be on it every day or even every week, but make sure that there is activity on it or delete it. You don’t want potential consumers to think you are stale or have gone out of business.

Your Facebook interactions should be an extension of the same customer service you would employ face-to-face with someone. Your Facebook profile should add to your brand and identity. Many aspects of Facebook are free so you have nothing to lose. Take advantage of such a cheap and connected platform and spend some time figuring out what optimization looks like for you.

Have fun with it.

In conclusion

You don’t have to be a Facebook guru to utilize it as a great marketing tool. There are tons of resources online if you have no clue what a post, like or share is. You can also seek help from social media companies.

We would be happy to help you employ a social media strategy for your business or at least answer some of your questions. If you would like to discuss your project with us, give us a call at 586.806.6693.

Do you have any Facebook marketing horror stories? What about success stories? Hell, just share a funny meme below if you want!